Facebook ropes in ViacomCBS’ Henry Moniz as its first Chief Compliance Officer

ViacomCBS Inc's top compliance official, Henry Moniz will be joining Facebook Inc as its first Chief Compliance Officer, as Facebook faces scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers.

"We are pleased to confirm that Henry Moniz will be joining Facebook to lead our strategy and execution of compliance matters in the U.S. and around the world," a Facebook spokeswoman told a news source.

In Viacom Moniz held senior compliance roles in 2004 and after the company’s merger with CBS Corp in 2019, he became the Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Audit Executive of the combined company.

As per news source, Moniz will report to Jennifer Newstead, the company's General counsel and also to the audit and risk oversight committee of Facebook's board of directors.

The development comes as Facebook and other big tech companies face regulatory scrutiny, with growing bipartisan consensus to hold them accountable for business practices.

In December, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and nearly every U.S. state filed lawsuits against Facebook by saying that it used a "buy or bury" strategy to snap up rivals and keep smaller competitors at bay.

The complaints accused Facebook of buying up rivals, focusing specifically on its previous acquisitions of photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion in 2012 and messaging app WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged last month that criticism of Facebook had hurt staff morale, saying public scrutiny "comes with the territory."